


Sidetracked

by twilightstarr



Series: Building New Memories [5]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Fluff, Mild swear, Nonbinary Apprentice (The Arcana), Other, Poison, Polyamory, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26362429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilightstarr/pseuds/twilightstarr
Summary: Amaranth's familiar turns out to be a species that makes Julian rather anxious as a doctor.
Relationships: Apprentice/Asra/Julian Devorak, Familiar OC & apprentice, Familiar oc & Julian devorak
Series: Building New Memories [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1798564
Kudos: 21





	Sidetracked

**Author's Note:**

> For day 4 of enby apprentice week 2020.

"I feel it now. These woods have magic. I wonder what useful plants we might find here," said Asra. 

"It's more than that though. There's something specific. Can't you feel it now?" Amaranth asked. 

Asra focused for a moment, then replied with fascination, "No, nothing in particular. I wonder what would be calling only to you." 

"I suppose we're going deeper in then," Julian grumbled. The plan had been to show his partners around his favorite places in Nevivon before they'd been sidetracked. Amaranth felt a little bad. They knew he wasn't fond of places with a lot of bugs and low hanging branches he had to duck under constantly, but they were sensing something too strong to ignore. 

"Come on, aren't you at least a little curious?"

"What if it's something dangerous?" he countered. 

"Then I'm sure Asra and I can handle it. We'll protect you." They squeezed his hand, giving him a reassuring smile. 

Julian sighed, too charmed to stay annoyed. "Alright." 

"Thank you. This feels really important to me." 

Amaranth led the way across uneven ground, energized with a sense of adventure as the sun shone in rays through the branches. As they grew closer, the ground became a bit softer and wetter, and the foliage thicker. 

"Oof." Julian stumbled over the sturdy root of an imposing tree. He and Asra were further behind than they'd realized. "Amma, please slow down." 

"Sorry!" With a good deal of self control, they held back. 

Soon they came to a shallow pond brimming with aquatic plant life. This was it. Whatever they were supposed to find here wasn't plainly obvious though. It wasn't like the cave where a big water lily stood out right in the middle of the pool. Amaranth ran up to the edge of the water, but wasn't sure what to do next. 

And then there was a little splash by their feet. A small creature emerged from the pond and crawled toward them. They bent down to examine it--a salamander, charcoal gray on top with fiery red underneath. The way its solid dark eyes looked up at them was rather adorable. 

"Hello there." Slowly, hoping not to spook the little guy, they lowered their hand beside it. To their delight, the salamander crawled on and allowed them to lift him up to eye level. "Aren't you friendly! I don't suppose you know what I'm supposed to find here?" 

The salamander blinked at them with a little swish of his tail. It almost looked to Amaranth as though he were amused. 

"Put that down!" Julian ordered, rushing over to them. 

He never sounded like that without having an important reason. It startled them into dropping the salamander. 

"Wash your hands in the water." 

They did. He came to crouch beside them. Amaranth gave him an inquiring look as they dried their hands on their pants. 

"Any tingling or numbness?" 

"No, I feel fine." 

"Good." Julian let out a breath of relief and helped Amaranth up and into an embrace. "Those things are toxic. They can be deadly, and there's no known antidote. Don't scare me like that."

"I'm sorry." Julian was one to talk with the stupid things he did sometimes though. 

There was an oddly strange feeling like they were losing a friend, even though it was just a salamander. 

...or was it? 

Asra was catching up now as well. Faust dropped off his shoulders and slithered toward Amaranth. When they looked down at her, they realized she was studying the salamander, who was still close by, with friendly interest. 

"No Faust, don't eat it!" 

Julian looked about ready to physically push her away, but Asra put a hand on his shoulder. 

"It's okay. She's not going to. She's just saying hello…" his gaze turned to Amaranth, smiling brightly as he confirmed their hope, "to a fellow familiar." 

"No wonder you were laughing at me!" They knelt down to pick him up again. "It's you! You led me here! It's very nice to meet you." 

"Amma!" Julian protested. 

"Don't worry. Even the most potentially dangerous familiars are smart enough to avoid hurting their humans," Asra assured. 

"Isn't there some way they can get a different familiar? Maybe a nice fluffy dog, or a cat?" 

"No, that isn't really how it works."

Julian sighed. "Of course _my_ magicians have to have a big snake and a little poison newt." 

A very cute little poison newt Amaranth felt an euphoric connection to. "I love him already." 

"Well, my big snake grew on you, didn't she? The concern was very touching," Asra teased. 

"I suppose," he admitted. 

"Ilya, I promise, I would never let anything happen to Amaranth." 

"I know." 

"They're safe. It's okay if you need some time to get used to the newt, but don't kill their joy, okay?" 

"You're absolutely certain this _is_ a familiar?" Julian asked. 

"Yes. Faust immediately recognized it as one, and it explains why Amaranth was drawn here." 

"Okay." He flourished a hand toward Amaranth. "Shall we continue to our next adventure?" 

They put their new friend on their shoulder, stood, and accepted the hand hold. They'd have to think of a name for him later, but for now, they had plans to get back to. 

Calling out with their magic, Amaranth approached the nearest canal. The sun was setting, and the once bustling marketplace of Vesuvia was winding down. It was time to head home. 

A moment later, a familiar salamander burst out of the water and crawled onto their hand. 

"Catch anything today?" 

_"Yes!"_ replied Torch, very pleased with himself. Though Amaranth, of course, would feed him, and had set up a tank he could go into at home when he needed time in the water, he still liked to have the satisfaction of swimming after prey on his own now and then. 

They started to lift Torch up, but then he asked, _"Tall shoulder?"_ Amaranth glanced up at Julian. 

"What?" 

"Torch wants to ride with you, if that's okay." 

By now, Torch had proven he could be trusted, and Julian no longer worried so much about Amaranth being poisoned. He'd even let them put Torch in his hands a few times. 

"Alright," he decided, leaning down for Amaranth to better reach his shoulder, smiling back when they beamed at him. 

"You two match," Asra observed. Indeed, Torch's skin and Julian's coat had pretty much the same color scheme. 

"We do, don't we?" 

Torch held his head up, enjoying the feeling of height. 

"Hey now, you better not start liking Julian more than me," Amaranth laughed. 

"It would be a fair trade, wouldn't it? Malak follows you around more than me these days," Julian retorted as they started walking. 

"You know he only does that to make you feel better, right? He knows you worry when I'm out tracking down a suspect." 

"Well, your other suspects might not be polite enough to help you up if you fall into a barrel while you're following them," Julian teased. 

"That's only happened once," Amaranth scowled. "And besides, if you'd tried to fight me, I could have taken you, like I did the first time we met." 

"I let you win." 

"Uh huh." 

"I'm with Amma. They could kick your ass if they wanted to," Asra chimed in. 

"You two are so mean to me!"

"Isn't that how you like it, Ilya?"

They headed home, arguing affectionately all the way.

**Author's Note:**

> Amaranth officially becomes a detective post canon, thus the line about tracking down suspects.
> 
> Torch is based on the red-bellied newt. The resemblance to Julian was truly coincidental. I didn't notice until I was almost finished writing.


End file.
